Just like Me
by AdamXToby 4ever
Summary: The Curtis brothers get new neighbors. So they go over and make them feel welcomed. When Ponyboy takes a girl and her little brother out, Ponyboy and the girl get jumped. Not a nice welcoming. PonyboyXOC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: New Home

I saw sitting in the back of my older brother's car, bored to death. There was nothing to do. My little brother was laying on me and sleeping, my baby sister was sleeping; one of my older brothers was driving and my other brother was talking away. I just remained quiet in the back seat. I never really started a conversation. I just talked if someone asked me a question. Then my brother, the one would wasn't driving, turned around and looked at me. "You wake kiddo?" he asked. His name was Mark. He is 17. He has shoulder length dark brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a black boy's tank top, a pair of long blue jeans, his hair greased, and a black jean jacket, which he was not wearing at the moment. He loved to grease his hair. He would never leave our house until he greased his hair. It drove my parents crazy. I though it was funny. Mark failed some many grades, he decided to drop out. The only thing he was good at was building things and doing things with his hands. Mark is a juvenile delinquent (JD) but right now, he was on his best behavior, which is a surprise to me.

When we lived up in New York, Mark had his own gang. He was the leader even though he had people in his group older than him. He loved to fight. I don't think there was ever a time he didn't come home and wasn't bleeding somewhere. He has so many cuts on his face and arms. He thinks it makes him look tough and it does. But if we ever went to a nice place to eat, my mother would yell at him to cover his arms. Surprisingly, Mark hasn't gone to the police station yet. He always runs away when the cops show up.

"Ya; I'm awake," I said. My name is Martha. I'm 14 and in high school. I skipped a couple grades so there's how I'm in high school already. I never really like to fight but if I must fight, I will. I'm a pretty good fighter. Just because I' a girl, that does not mean I'm weak. I'm pretty strong. That's what Mark said. I like to dance, act, draw, and create things. Like my brother, I can be a JD but most of the times, I act innocence. I had a strapless on and low rider shorts. I wore slip on sandals but now I had them off. I looked at my arms and saw my make up came off. You could see a cut from my shoulder down to my wrist on both arms. I even had two cuts on my two legs. It went from the thigh down to my ankle. How I got them, I don't like to talk about. I have long amber colored hair and blue eyes. I had my hair in a high ponytail right now. It was sure hot in the car.

"You're going to like it here in Oklahoma," my other older brother, Tyler, said. He was 20. He really looked like he was 16. He would be going to college but because of this move, he might not go. When we lived in New York, when I looked out in the morning, I would see girls waiting outside for him. I was still in elementary school when Tyler was starting high school when that happened. After a while, the girls stopped coming. He was so polite to everyone. He had a long honey colored hair and blue eyes. Everyone in my family had blue eyes but our hair was different. Tyler was wearing a white t-shirt with no sleeves, jeans and had his hair tied back. Mark's hair was never tied back unless we had to get dressed up. Tyler's specially was in the medical field.

"Why did we have to move?" I asked. "Tyler, you could have been our guardian."

"I know but I can't take care of all you by myself," he said. "Besides, Mark and I want to see Anthony. I know you don't have much memories of him Martha." He was right as always. I don't really have any memories with Anthony. All I know is he's 22, is was the first child in our family, and is a well respected lawyer. I heard he come argue a lot. Mark could be a lawyer but he wouldn't obey the rules.

"Besides, why would you want to live in that house after what happened?" Mark asked.

"Be quiet Mark," I said. "You know I don't like that memory." What happened at our house was too horrible; I can't put it into words. All I can say is my father was a drug dealer and my mom finally called the police and told them. Then my father killed my mother. What happened after that was horrible.

"Sorry kiddo," he said as he turned back around and began to smoke a cigarette. Then Tyler gave him a talk about smoking. Mark has always smoked. It was bad for our younger brother, Benny and our baby sister Marissa. I tried smoking once and I hated it. Then I got in trouble with my mom. She told me on TV for a week. Benny woke up and looked at me. He looked like Mark with the dark hair but he acted completely opposite of Mark. But Benny is still young. If Benny ever grew up like Mark, I don't know what I'll do. Benny looked around, trying to remember where he was. Then he remembered where he was. You could tell from his face expressions. He was six.

"Are we there yet?" he complained. "I'm hungry."

"We're almost there," Tyler said. "Just five more minutes Benny."

"Alright," he said. "Martha, can we go look around town and maybe see a movie when we get there?" Benny loved movies; especially action, horror and mysterious. I don't like horror so if he wanted to see a horror movie, he had to ask Mark or Tyler to take him.

"Sure," I answered. "But first we need to see where we live." Tyler turned a corner and we saw a bunch of kids in a parking lot. They were fighting. We drove right past them as a kid pulled out a blade. Boys must carry blades around here too. Mark always did and so did I, especially if I took Benny and Marissa somewhere. I never use it but you never know when you might need it. Soon we arrived in the neighborhood. Benny and I looked out of the window and saw what our new neighborhood would be like. It wasn't what I imagined. There was trash everywhere; houses looked like they could fall apart at any minute and more things. It was like the ghettoes in New York.

Tyler finally stopped the car. "We're here," he said. Benny and I could out first. I dropped my sandals out of the door and put them on. Then I walked around, opened the car door and took Marissa out. She was only two months old. My father killed my mother last week. He's in jail now for about 50 years. I then asked Benny to help me unpack. He took his stuff and I grabbed my stuff and Marissa's baby stuff. Tyler and Mark got out and took their stuff. Then we walked up to the house together. If my brother was a well respected lawyer, why did he live here? Tyler knocked on the door and someone answered it. A guy answered it and he looked like our father. I hide behind Mark. I didn't like my father at all. He had a perfect shade of brown hair and blue eyes.

"You're here; come in," he said. "Our neighbors and their friends are here too." We entered and I saw five other boys. They all had their hair greased. My brother Anthony came up to me and took the bags I had. Tyler, Mark and Benny all set their stuff down in the same place Anthony set my bags down. Then he pulled up chairs for us and he sat down. I kept Marissa in my arms though. She was surprising still asleep. She'll probably wake up soon because she's hungry. Anthony's house was nice. It was clean and neat.

"Martha," Benny whispered to me. "Who is this guy?"

"He's our oldest brother Anthony," I said. Benny never knew Anthony. In fact, Benny didn't know we had another brother. He don't here form him much.

"Look guys," said one of the guys. "The female already has a child. She don't look as old as Ponyboy." Then he laughed and got hit in the head by of the other boys. Both boys wore a blue shirt with said DX Gas Station but the one who said the comment had no shirt under it. But the other boy had a white shirt under it.

"Behave Steve," he said. "Sorry about that. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shout."

"It's alright," I said.

"Allow me to introduce everyone," Anthony said. "These are our neighbors. The one who just made that comment was Steve Randle and the one who apologized is Sodapop Curtis but he's called Soda. Then there's in older brother Darrel Curtis, who we call Darry and he's wearing the black shirt. The blondie is both Darry and Soda's younger brother Ponyboy Curtis. And finally the guy wearing Mickey Mouse is Two-Bit Mathews. Guys, this is my family. The boy with greased hair is Mark. The calm boy is Tyler. The girl holding our baby sister is Martha, the baby's name is Marissa and the little boy is Benny." For someone who hasn't seen our family for a while, he sure knows everyone well.

"I'm not little," Benny said as he stood up. "I'm a big boy." We all started to laugh. "What is so funny?"

"Ben," Mark said. "You will be a big boy when you let me grease your hair." Benny didn't like people touching his hair. He liked it a pacific way. Benny thought the grease would mess it up. Mark made a deal withBenny. When Benny letMark grase his hair,we would consider him a big boy.I looked down at Marissa and saw she was awake. I stopped laughing and she began to cry. Then there was silence in the room except for Marissa crying.

"Excuse me," I said as I got up and went over to her bag. I pulled out a baby bottle, walked back over to the chair and put the bottle in her mouth. She drank to drink it.

"You're good with her," Darry said. "How old is she?"

"Two months," I answered.

"Who's child is she?" Steve asked.

"You need to shut you trap greaser or I'll shut it for you," I said. I could be nice but his guy was asking for it.

"Steve got talk to by a girl," Two-Bit said. Soda started laughing and Steve tackled him. Benny walked over to Anthony and told him he was hungry.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Is anyone else hungry?"

"No," I said. "He likes ham and cheese Anthony."

"We're fine," Darry said. Then Anthony disappeared into the back with Benny behind him.

"Anthony!" Mark yelled. "Are we aloud to smoke in here?"

"No! Take it outside Mark!" he yelled from the kitchen. Mark didn't go outside. He just stayed there and didn't have a cigarette. I looked over to Ponyboy and saw he was staying quiet.

"Ponyboy," I said. "How old are you?"

"14," he answered.

"So am I," I said.

"What grade?"

"Sophomore."

"Same here." Wow; I didn't realize we were so much alike. Benny came back in with a sandwich on a plate and he was singing. Benny always sang when he finally got food when he was hungry. It was cute and he had a good voice. He should take some singing classes. He sat down on the floor and began to eat. Marissa finished her bottle and I had to burp her. I put her head on my shoulder and I held her little body. I patted her back and she burped after two minutes. I walked to her bag and pulled out some of her toys and blanket. I put the blanket and set Marissa on it. Then I placed her toys near her. She rolled onto her stomach and crawled to the toys.

Benny finished eating and ran into the kitchen. He came back in with Anthony. "Can we look around town Anthony and see a movie?" Benny asked.

"Sure but who's 'we'?" he asked.

"Me and Martha," he said.

"It's alright with me," Anthony said.

"I'll go with them," Ponyboy said. "So they don't get lost."

"Okay," I said. "Mark, give me your hair grease." I liked greasing my hair. Mark got me hooked on it. Mark ran to his bag and threw me a small container. I walked into the bathroom, and greased the top of my head and part of my ponytail. I looked in the mirror as I put the grease in my hair. I walked out, grabbed my jacket before anyone sees my arms, put the jacket on, and Benny, Ponyboy and I left.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Park

We arrived at the movies. Ponyboy or I didn't talk along the way. Benny just kept talking. He loves to talk like Mark. Once Mark and Benny had a talking contest to see who could talk longer. Tyler and I fell asleep. When we woke up, they were still talking. That contest never decided who could talk the longest. Both of them won. We looked at the movies and saw nothing good was playing so we went across the street to an art store. Benny went looking for a new coloring book. I promised him he could get a new coloring book once we got here is he didn't talk the whole way. Ponyboy and I just walked around. I just realized we're the same height. I walked down a sketch book section and grabbed a sketch book. Then Benny came running toward us with a big coloring book. We got in the line and I paid for it. Then he left.

"Where to next?" I asked.

"Park!" Benny yelled.

"It that alright Ponyboy?" I asked. I could tell he wasn't every happy.

"Sure," he said.

"If you don't want to go, just say so," I said.

"We can go," he said. We went to the park. Once we got there, Ponyboy and I sat on a branch while Benny went to play. Ponyboy then pulled out a cigarette, a match, lit the match, lit his cigarette and he began to smoke.

"What's it like living here?" I asked.

"Tough," he said. "We have two groups: Greasers and Socs."

"That's why you don't look happy," I said. "Because of the Socs?"

"Yea; they jump us Greasers," he said. "One of my friends got jumped once and he was hurt badly."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. I was never jumped before. Things were totally different here. "I take it you're a greaser?"

"Yea." He said. He just stayed quiet after that. I wonder what is wrong with him.

"Ponyboy." He looked at me. "I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't know. Could you talk some more please. It makes me feel that I did something wrong because you're not talking to me. You didn't talk much at my brother's house and now you just don't want to talk." I don't like it when someone doesn't talk to me to much. It makes me feel either bad or lonely. It makes me feel bad because I might have said something that offended them.

"It's not you," he said. "I have a lot on my mind right now." He threw his cigarette on the ground, put his foot on it and put it out. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I haven't been real nice."

"It's alright; do you want to go?"

"No; let him play for a while." We both looked over at Benny and saw he was having fun. Then I saw Benny get pushed off the monkey bars. I ran over to him and helped him up. Then I looked at the child that pushed him. He was Benny's age only meaner. I took Benny back over to the branch to look at his knee. His left knee was scraped. I took out a cloth from my jacket pocket and my switchblade fell out. I quickly grabbed it and put it back in the pocket. I went over to the water fountain and got water on the cloth. Then I went back over to Benny and cleaned his wound. Then I let him go play some more. "Why do you have a blade?" Ponyboy asked me.

"Something happened," I said. "I was defenseless and my brothers almost didn't come in time. I can't depend on my brothers saving me all the time. In addition, once Benny and I were attacked by a gang in New York. That was when Benny was about three or four years old."

"Oh; tell me about your brothers and yourself," he said.

"Well Mark was the leader of a gang when we lived in New York," I said. "He is JD. Tyler is the good one. I am in the middle of them. I'm not good but I'm not too bad like Mark. I fight if needed and I'll do anything to make sure my younger brother or sister doesn't get hurt. I also have good grades too. Tell me about you and your brothers."

"My grades are okay. Darry tells me I need to get A's though," he said. "Darry roofs houses and Soda works at a gas station. He dropped out of school so he works full time there."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "Tyler would never let me drop out of school. He understood why Mark did. Anthony might try and get him back in school I guess."

"Who knows," he said as he looked at the sky. "It's getting late; we better get going or they'll think we ran off to Mexico." I laughed. It was a funny thought. After a minute I stopped laughing and yelled for Benny. Then I felt a cold breeze. It's cold out here. Benny came running and we left. After we left the park, we headed in the direction of our neighborhood. I looked at Ponyboy and saw he was cold. I took off my jacket and gave him it.

"Put it on," I said. "You need it more than I do." He put it on and I could tell me saw the scars on my arms. Benny ran ahead of us. Even though I was in shorts, I was warm. I've been in a hot car all day and the cold air felt good.

"How did you get those?" he asked.

"…A fight," I said. It was partly true.

"How?"

"Some guys cut my arms."

"Do Tyler and Mark know?"

"Yea; Ponyboy I really don't want to talk about it."

"Sorry; I didn't know."

"It's alright." I looked behind us and saw a blue car following us. "Benny, go home and get Mark. You know here we live right?"

"Yes; be back." Benny ran off. He knew if I asked him to get Mark then something was going to happen. The car parked in front of us and five guys came out of the car and surrounded us. They were wearing nice clothes. These must be the Socs Ponyboy told me about.

"Look at what we got here boys: two greasers," one said.

"So what," I said.

"Both of them need a hair cut; especially the female," another said.

"Don't you dare touch her with your fitly Soc hands," Ponyboy said. That's when the guys attacked Ponyboy and me. We ran but soon one tackled me. Ponyboy came back and pushed the guy off me. Then two grabbed me and the other three went for Ponyboy. They forced him to the ground and these guys forced me against the wall. I hit the wall and kick them below the waist. Then I attacked the guys on Ponyboy. I got one off and he took care of the rest. Then we tried to run away but they tackled us again. Two guys held Ponyboy and two held me down. We were both on the ground. I looked in front of me and saw the fifth guy had a switchblade knife.

"I'll start with you," he said as he came closer to me. Then he put the blade on my left cheek and cut it. I bit my tongue so I wouldn't scream. I looked at him and he was smiling.

"Leave her alone," Ponyboy said. "You Socs have no right here. This is our turf."

"So what," another said.

"We go wherever we like," another said.

"I suggest you get out of here," I said.

"Why should we?"

"You'll see soon," I said as I head butted the guy. He fell to the ground and dropped the switchblade. The guys let go of Ponyboy but punched him in the stomach. Then they came toward me. I shut my eyes and the next thing I heard was them yelling. I opened my eyes and saw Mark, Steve, Two-Bit and Soda attacking them.

"You Soc bastards need to stay off our turf," Two-Bit said.

"And don't mess with my kid sis'," Mark said as he punched one of them. All the Socs ran to the car and tried to drive away. I got up and walked over to Ponyboy. Then I looked up and saw Mark hit the Socs back window with a stick. The glass went everywhere. Then they drove away. "Don't ever come back," he said as he ran over to me. "You two alright?"

"Yea," I said. "I'm sorry Mark; I was weak."

"It's alright; you just moved here and you didn't know what they were like," he said. "I'm glad you didn't fight."

"Pony, are you okay?" Soda asked.

"Yea," he said. "They didn't hurt me. She did." Mark looked at my left cheek.

"They used a blade?" he asked. "Why didn't you use your blade?"

"They had my hands held back and Ponyboy has my jacket," I said.

(Ponyboy's POV)

I looked at Martha. She was shaking and trying not to cry. She tried to save me. I owe her. She reminds me of…Johnny when he saved me from drowning. But how can she remind me of Johnny. She has a different hair color than him, she's my height and she's not as scared as him. But I feel like I can tell her anything like Soda and Johnny.

"Ponyboy," she said. "Are you alright?"

"Yea," I said. "You need to get that cut cleaned." I helped her up and we all walked back to her house in silence. We walked in the door and saw Anthony holding a crying Marissa and Benny was trying to pull Tyler out the door. We entered and he let go of Tyler and ran over to Martha. He hugged her legs. Anthony came over to her and handed her Marissa. I didn't see Darry so he must have went out.

"She won't stop crying. I changed her dipper, I fed her, I gave her the toys but that didn't work," he said. "What is wrong with her?"

"She's tired," I said. Everyone looked at me. "What? He tried every else so she must be tired."

"He's right," Martha said. "Lay her down on her mat on her back. Don't anyone wake her up." Anthony took Marissa and went up stairs. Tyler went and got the medical supplies. Martha sat down on a chair and I sat next to her. Tyler poured some stuff on a piece of cloth and put it on her cheek. She jumped up a little then. "That hurts Tyler," she said.

"It cleans the wound," he said as he wiped all the blood off. "Do you want a bandage?"

"No," she said. "I'll be fine; next time I'll use my blade."

"Use it as a last resort," he said.

"It was good you didn't use it," Mark said. "They could have cut Ponyboy too."

"So I guess I did a good thing then," she said as she smiled. That was the first time I've seen her smile.


End file.
